Day of Sight October 13th 2016

ZEISS for better eyesight around the world

About 90% of the world's visually impaired live in low-income settings1

The company supplies technologies and application-oriented solutions designed to help doctors improve the quality of life of their patients. We strive for a future without avoidable blindness.

Help others help themselves

Blindness caused by eye diseases is preventable in four out of five cases, but only if the patient has access to modern medical technology. ZEISS wants to remedy this shortcoming. That is why the company has been working for years to make medical care available to people who live in developing and emerging countries.

As part of the initiative VISION 2020, ZEISS has been financing four diagnostic, treatment and training centers for eye care since 2005. These are located in Bandung (Indonesia), Ibadan (Nigeria), Moshi (Tanzania) and Asunción (Paraguay). Now there is a fifth eye care center of this kind: the Shaheed al Fadhel Maz Center in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, opened in March 2016.

In line with the motto “Help others help themselves”, not only are the training centers being used to pursue the aim of providing access to state-of-the-art medical technology in developing and emerging countries, but spaces are also being created where healthcare professionals are taught to use modern medical technology and can then put their knowledge into practice.

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Beyond the training centers, there is another special initiative pursuing these very aims and that ZEISS has supported this year:

The Flying Eye Hospital

The Flying Eye Hospital is a modern eye hospital located aboard a jumbo jet. This special airplane is run by ORBIS International, an organization established in 1982 that helped co-found the Vision 2020 initiative.

In the summer of 2016, ORBIS International unveiled the third generation of the Flying Eye Hospital. With an operating room, a laser treatment room, a pre- and post-operative care room, a technology center and a classroom, it swoops to the aid of patients in developing and emerging countries. There, the ORBIS team of doctors treats patients with eye diseases and trains up local eye doctors and other medical professionals.

On board the new mobile eye hospital is also an OPMI® LUMERA® with RESIGHT® 700 – a surgical microscope sponsored by ZEISS. The microscope features a special video solution that supports the ORBIS team of doctors, especially during training: eye operations can be transmitted directly to the classroom screen at the Flying Eye Hospital. In this way, doctors and other medical professionals can follow the live surgery and expand their practical clinical experience of eye care.

ZEISS

Partner of the Christian Blind Mission

The Christian Blind Mission (CBM) is an international Christian aid organization with the aim of improving the quality of life of the poor and people with disabilities. Together with ZEISS, the organization enables doctors to treat people even in the poorest regions of the world with ZEISS products.

The Week of Sight, which is held every year and co-organized by the CBM, provides information about the importance of vision, the causes of preventable blindness and the situation of the blind. As the most important corporate partner, ZEISS has been supporting this event since 2002 and demonstrating how ZEISS is contributing to the treatment of visual impairments and blindness.
Further information on the Week of Sight is available here (German only).

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VISION 2020

Conquering Preventable Blindness by 2020

In 2002, ZEISS became the first industrial sponsor of the VISION 2020: The Right to Sight initiative. The goal is to defeat preventable blindness and to enable everyone in the world, particularly the millions suffering from curable blindness, to see.

VISION 2020 is a global initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and is supported by various non-governmental organizations.

The VISION 2020 initiative is an international community project It therefore comes as no surprise that ZEISS supports this initiative. Social responsibility is a key aspect of our corporate culture and has always been an integral part of the ZEISS brand. With its donations and tailored solutions, ZEISS is helping to make high-quality and affordable treatment of ophthalmic disorders available to millions of people around the world.

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Treatment Fields

Refraction

Visual defects of the eye normally resulting from a disproportion between the refractive power of the cornea and the length of the eyeball or from a reduction in the elasticity of the natural lens with increasing age – these defects can be treated by refractive laser surgery.

Glaucoma

Retina

Retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy are among the most common causes of blindness in industrialized countries. As the population ages, the prevention of blindness caused by retinal diseases will present a unique challenge in the healthcare industry.

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Not all products, services or offers are approved or offered in every market and approved labeling and instructions may vary from one country to another. For country-specific product information, see the appropriate country website. Product specifications are subject to change in design and scope of delivery as a result of ongoing technical development.